Kritzerland is proud to present its newest limited edition CD – the original motion picture soundtrack to Philippe de Broca’s classic That Man From Rio, with music by Georges Delerue.

That Man From Rio hit movie screens in 1964 and was an instant sensation. A brilliant adventure comedy thriller, the film had it all – adventure, comedy, and thrills and plenty of them, plus the star power of Jean-Paul Belmondo in the lead, along with the stunningly beautiful Francoise Dorleac as his fiancé. Also on hand were Jean Servais and Adolfo Celi, both terrific in supporting roles. The film was shot on location in France, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia (the city of the future, just then being built). The film was a huge success, especially in the United States, so much so that its screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award.

The score was by de Broca’s frequent collaborator, the great Georges Delerue. For That Man From Rio Delerue created one of his most delightful scores, one that perfectly accompanied the outrageous action on the screen. The score has so much variety and humor and melody and beauty, and in so many different styles – from pure adventure scoring to Brazilian rhythms (and some great songs), along with some hauntingly beautiful passages, and all in the classic Delerue style. The duo of de Broca and Delerue is a triumph of music and image working hand in hand.

At the time of the film’s release, two 45rpm EPs were released, one in France and one in the UK, both comprised of different material and amounting to approximately twenty minutes of music. Both were very hard to find and became very sought after collector’s items. Universal France issued what they called a “soundtrack” CD – that had only six cues, three of which weren’t from the soundtrack at all, but were re-recordings conducted by Alexandre Desplat. The reasons for this, as stated in their booklet, was that the cupboard was bare for Rio tapes in Delerue’s personal archive.

Happily, the cupboard wasn’t bare for Kritzerland and we are thrilled to present every note of Georges Delerue’s marvelous score, all taken from the original tapes. In addition to the complete score, we’ve included a few things that didn’t make the film, as well as some alternate versions of cues, where tempos were different. The CD runs over seventy minutes.

Some of the cues are mono, some stereo and are presented here exactly as they were recorded.

This release is limited to 1000 copies only. The price is $19.98 plus shipping.

CDs will ship the second week of April – however, preorders placed directly through Kritzerland usually ship one to three weeks earlier. To place an order, see the cover, or hear audio samples, just visit www.kritzerland.com

Also, because I know there are some theater enthusiasts here, here's the Press Release for our other title - which may be of interest if only for the gorgeous Rachmaninoff music.

AT LONG LAST - ANYA! THE MUSICAL MUSICAL

Kritzerland is proud to present the first ever CD release of the Original Cast Recording of Anya, with a score by Robert Wright and George Forrest (based on themes by Sergei Rachmaninoff).

Anya, the musical version of Anastasia, opened on Broadway at the end of 1965 at the Ziegfeld Theater and lasted a mere fifteen performances. Nobody would have predicted that a new musical by the team that wrote Kismet (here doing to Rachmaninoff what in Kismet they did to Borodin), written by George Abbott and Guy Bolton, and direction by George Abbott would end up being such a troubled production and such a huge flop. Happily, United Artists Records went ahead and recorded the cast album and just as happily we’re thrilled to finally bring it to CD. Whatever the show’s problems (it’s been revised several times since), the album is filled with glorious music, excellent performances, and is indeed a most musical musical. The Rachmaninoff “themes” are masterfully used by Wright and Forrest (no one was better at that sort of thing than they were), and Don Walker’s orchestrations and Harold Hastings’ musical direction make the most out of all of those gorgeous melodies.

The wonderful cast includes Constance Towers, Michael Kermoyan, Lillian Gish, and Irra Petina, as well as the still alive and kicking George S. Irving. New liner notes are by Walter Willison (Tony-nominee for Two By Two), who was very close to Wright and Forrest.

The CD is a Limited Edition of 1000 copies only.

Digitally remastered from the original album master tapes. The price is $19.98 plus shipping.

CDs will ship the second week of April – however, preorders placed directly through Kritzerland usually ship one to three weeks ahead of the street date.

Well, I knew nothing of this film, or the score. In fact, I'm not really aware of most of Delerue's work.

But when I listened to those samples, I got excited! REALLY cool! I ordered it immediately, even though it looks like I'll have to wait a while before it is shipped!

Even though we say second week of April, as others who preorder from us know, we usually have the CDs anywhere from two weeks to a month in advance of the ship date, so I'm hoping we actually have these in hand by the 15th of this month, and they'll ship the day we get 'em.